Olympian Henry Cejudo: I'd want to retire if forced to fight just once or twice a year

Olympian Henry Cejudo: I'd want to retire if forced to fight just once or twice a year

When it comes to amateur wrestlers in MMA, the results are mixed. Some fail, others succeed. Henry Cejudo, a 2008 Olympic gold medalist, hopes to be one of the latter.

The decorated wrestler-turned-MMA fighter, who meets late replacement Saul Elizondo (6-3) at Friday’s Legacy FC 25 event in Houston (10 p.m. ET, AXS TV), has adjusted seamlessly to MMA and feels right at home inside the cage.

“I adapt pretty well, actually,” Cejudo (5-0) told MMAjunkie of his comfort level in MMA. “I’ve actually progressed to where I can strike. I can move. I’m not dumb; I’m not going to sit there and brawl somebody just because I have hands, but I’ve adjusted to the sport of mixed martial arts pretty well.

“It’s in my nature to strike, fight, get a guy in the clinch, throw an elbow off the clinch, beat people up with punches, and all that stuff.”

With his first professional fight in March, Cejudo has already racked up five victories. Cejudo relishes the busy schedule. If it were up to him, he said, he would fight even more frequently.

“I love to compete,” he said. “If I don’t challenge myself in competition, then I don’t know what I’m doing. A lot of these guys in my gym will fight once, twice a year. I don’t understand the purpose of fighting then. I would want to retire if I knew I was only going to fight one time or twice a year.”

The desire to maintain an active schedule is ingrained in Cejudo from his years of wrestling competitions, where he would go against multiple opponents in a single day. Those experiences are a solid foundation for MMA, specifically in a situation like Cejudo’s in which his opponent was pulled from the card and replaced just one day before the fight.

While MMA is physically taxing in its own way, Cejudo feels that, regardless of opponent, his hunger to fight frequently keeps him grounded.

“I just feel like I need to compete,” Cejudo said. “I have ADD. If I don’t have something going on, then I go crazy.”

Up until his most recent fight, Cejudo had dominated the unlucky souls unfortunate enough to meet him. He had stopped all of his opponents with strikes in the first round, but Ryan Hollis didn’t go down so easy and extended the contest for all three rounds.

While Cejudo still handily won the match, his face was banged up for the first time. The ability to take a punch is a huge part of MMA, and the more gruesome aspect of the sport has turned off other crossover athletes in the past.

Cejudo isn’t one of them, and though he knows a three-round fight was beneficial to his career, he was irked to leave it in the hands of the judges for the first time.

“I was disappointed in myself the last fight a little bit,” Cejudo said. “I train to dominate, not to decision. You don’t want to leave it up to the referees and the judges, and that’s what I did.

“On the flip side, it was good for me to go three rounds and experience what 15 minutes feels like in actual competition.”

As for early-career troubles, Cejudo said there’s nothing inside the cage that gives him difficulty. The only issues are outside it.

“What I find most difficult about mixed martial arts is the social media side of it, the glamour side of things, people talking smack, calling you out,” Cejudo said. “I see the sport of mixed martial arts as respect and honor. I have a tool to gain attention, and I think that you can be funny, but you don’t want to be degrading toward somebody.

“I just think there’s a lot of kids, especially because it’s the fastest growing sport in the world – I just feel like people have a responsibility to be a good role model, and I don’t think a lot of people understand the platform that they have.”

As Cejudo continues to build momentum and rack up more victories, talk of an inevitable signing with a major MMA promotion begins to vamp up. The fighter is ready for it.

“I think after this fight we’re going to start talking [with major promotions],” Cejudo said. “I think I’m going to stay with Legacy for another two fights or move over to the next big show.”

Cejudo’s arrival in an organization such as the UFC, Bellator MMA or World Series of Fighting is unavoidable, and once he gets there, his fellow competitors will be on notice. The American has achieved a level of athletic excellence few can match, and having already showcased the rare ability to evolve into one of the world’s top wrestlers, Cejudo believes he can rise to the top of the MMA world as well.

“I’m on a mission to become the best in the world, a world champion,” Cejudo said. “I’m here to demonstrate my talents and challenge myself.”